Unusual ways you have gained money

[DionneB]

as we have had the one about money you lost , what about money gained?

i once entered a tombola and won £2 in a jar,

on a train once , a man randomly gave me £40

Mine's not very exciting, but it was very recent.

Not last Saturday but the one before, I was walking through the high street of a Cotswoldy town. No one else around. And suddenly, blowing past me is a £5 note. And while I'm looking round for someone to return it to (there was no one), it blew under a "keep out - building work" fence (one of those ones with mesh, but a gap for the feet. So ninja-style, I rolled and grabbed. Paid towards the first drinks of the night. I was mightily pleased.

Not me, but a guy I knew, when we were about 14/15, once got £20 to walk a really drunk guy accross a busy road, to the taxi depot opposite. I've found money, but never more that £2.

I got given £1000 at university as a scholarship which I didn't even know existed and didn't apply for. Was really fucking lucky. But I was 19 and spent it all in Ibiza, what a twat!

And once got given £100 in a nightclub because the person who won it in an online competition didn't show up so the photographer needed someone to take a picture of.

I found £10 on the floor in Kings Cross Station once.

I answered one of those FB “did you have PPI” pop ups once, and got £1300, even though I was sure that i’d Never had PPI.

A distant uncle left me £1000 unexpectedly.

DP and I in a coastal village in Spain, walking down to the beach and saw several bank notes on the ground, about €30, I think. No one nearby so we just pocketed it.

I always look down when I walk, mostly watching out for dog poo, and I’ve probably picked up £100 in notes, my best was a tenner 50 years ago.

Walking along the street and two £20 notes were flying along, I caught them under my foot. Picked them up and held them up whilst looking around, trying to catch anyone's eye, it was busy but no one batted an eyelid.
Another time also found £20 on the floor in Wickes

I go out with three friends, maybe twice a year. I always drive to one of the friend's homes, and walk with her to the restaurant. Last time, I found a folded £20 note, which had obviously fallen out of someone's pocket. I deducted it from our share of the bill at the restaurant. I really didn't think anyone would've reported it.

A man in the café I work in had left something behind. I thought it was just paperwork but picked it up and tucked it behind the till anyway. His partner came in and looked for it so I gave it back to her and she passed it over to him. He looks into this envelope and pulls out a £20 note and just hands it to me! I was most pleased.

Also found a £10 note all scrunched up on the floor of said café. Thought it was a bit of rubbish until I picked it up.

After my divorce I started a new job that had an Employee Owned Stock Option ( ESOP) program. I was told about it at the interview. I didnt pay much attention as Id heard all about these fabulous programs and so many more like them from so many jobs Id had over the years and never saw a penny.

I worked there for 2 1/2 years then left

Six months after I left I got a phone call from one of the women I used to work with to tell me the company had been sold and had I gotten my ESOP statement. I hadnt so I decided to call the company and find out how much I was getting as I had only been eligible for 6 months when I left.

I figured probably a couple of grand and as it was close to Christmas I decided to take the tax hit, cash it out and do Christmas for my kids.
I phoned and asked, they told me. I remember shouting down the phone, that cant be right, you have the decimal point in the wrong place .

They sent me a statement and, nope, they hadnt got it wrong. I had just been handed a totally free $162,000.

I couldnt believe it, 6 months Id been eligible for a program I didnt believe in, never made a contribution to and never thought anything about and I got that much money.

I put the bloody lot in a pension fund as I didnt have one and old and poor in this country doesnt appeal to me.

@theoldtrout01876 that’s amazing!!

When I was heavily pregnant with DS2 we were totally broke. DH’s business wasn’t doing well and my maternity pay hadn’t come through.
DH went to check our mailbox and came in looking white as a sheet. I thought we’d had another expensive bill, but he had an envelope with $5000AU in it with a note saying “from your friends at [our church]
I still have no idea who it was (we go to a big church) or how they knew we were struggling.

LadyCassandra that reminds me, we were in the USA and our second child was diagnosed with a very rare blood disorder at 8 months old and was receiving chemo. DH went out to the mailbox one day and there was an envelope in there addressed to us. When we opened it we found it stuffed with cash, I think it also ran to a few grand. It had not gone through the mail so we think it was probably from one of our neighbours but they stayed anonymous. Our dd totally recovered BTW.

I bought a second hand book in a charity shop; there was £40 in it.

Felt bad about keeping it tho so gave it back to the charity who didn't bother to say thank you!

I left my company about 20 years ago, with a skip in my step and a couple of grand sitting in my pension scheme. Might give me a couple of quid a month to live on in my dotage, I thought. Then a few months ago, I got a letter asking me to opt out of the final salary scheme and they'd pay me a kind of bribe leaving fee. When I got my statement, they said the payoff that would be transferred to my current pension scheme would be £89,000. WTAF!? Thankyouverymuchthatwilldonicely

Back when I was into entering competitions, I made £200 on the walkers crisps rainy days competition where you had to pick a square in the UK and if it rained in that square in a 24 hour period you got a tenner.

I worked out where it was most likely to rain (brecon beacons was particularly good) and spent probably £10 all in on crisp packets (I like crisps so it was no hardship).

I once found ten pound on the ground, pocketed it and skipped off to work all pleased, and then got told I’d won £70 on the bonus ball! Good way to brighten up a Monday.

On a night out with some friends a drunk man insisted he would pay £20 for some used tights, only one of our friends was wearing tights but she dutifully whipped them off and gave them to him and we used the £20 for drinks.

On the day I planned to hand in my resignation letter, my employer unexpectedly announced that the business wasn't doing very well and they were looking for people to take voluntary redundancy.

I volunteered for redundancy that same day and walked off at the end of my notice period with £35k (the first £30k was tax free).

I was going to leave anyway!

I found lots of euros, looked like someone had dropped all their holiday money. Handed it in, hope it got back to the right person.

Best one was someone on holiday gave us a coin to scratch a scratch card scam. Knew it was a scam and accidentally kept the coin put in our hand. Walked past an arcade and put it in the machine outside and loads came out!

I saw a debate on here about whether a child should hand in money they find or keep it, I never know where the line is. Obviously unless I see someone drop it I’m not going to chase around trying to unite someone with 1p but what amount does it need to be to hand in?

$20 bill on a Caribbean beach.
£80 picking the right football team in one of those pub lottos.

I've gained £7 this week & have no idea where from...

I chuck the odd pound into a specific pocket of my handbag organiser through the week, then on a Tuesday I take £12.50 out of the bank, put both together and then stash it elsewhere to use over half terms.

Did the same yesterday, went to pack my (empty) bag & organiser for Guides last night and there was £7 in there.

I've double checked my stash is the right amount (keep a running total so I know what we've got for spends at half term) & it is. My purse only ever has a quid or two in it so can't have dropped out of there. I'm baffled but rather pleased about it :)

I grew up in a really dodgy area of Glasgow and used to play on a community golf course which was inside a park.

Myself and a friend found a backpack full of paper notes stashed in a bush. Which was quickly whisked off is by somebody who was waiting to purchase drugs something and had hid the bag presumably to stop himself being robbed until he had the goods.

Gave us 20 quid each and told us to Fuck Off

Some years ago I took to buying small cigars in packs of ten. They were being promoted with the chance that one of your cigars might be a fiver. I got a few fivers, but on one occasion I opened the pack to find three fivers!

Some great stories!
I was once riding in a park on a massive horse and saw a fiver on the ground... I couldn't get off to get it as no way of getting back on with my short legs! Gutted 
I got given a fiver by my ex's lazy friend who couldn't be arsed to go to the bar for his round so paid me to go. I'm not proud  ex told me off!
Best one was winning £500 on a pilot game show that only ran for two weeks in 2004, I won by one point.

Last year a poster on here put about bank charges and how easy it was to get them back. I followed the link and it took me less than 5 minutes to do. I didn’t think anymore about it until less than a month later just under £5k was put in my account and a telephone call from the bank telling me I had been successful. I am so thankful to that poster.